Perfect weather for hitting

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ football team finally got to work outdoors Saturday during its third practice of the spring.

The Razorbacks practiced in the Walker Pavilion on Thursday and Friday because of inclement weather, but it was sunny and warm Saturday as they worked inside Reynolds Razorback Stadium before about 500 fans.

Saturday also marked the first spring practice in full pads and the Razorbacks had plenty of contact.

“It’s nice to get back to hitting,” Arkansas senior All-America center Jonathan Luigs said. “I’ll probably have a bruised forehead and some headaches later on today, but that’s part of the game.”

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Defensive coordinator Willy Robinson gave his group mixed reviews. “We kind of figured the contact was going to be questionable and suspect,” Robinson said. “I don’t think we attacked the line of scrimmage, which is a goal [Coach Bobby Petrino ] set for us on defense. “ I did think we got enough hats to the ball and liked our effort running to the ball. So if we can figure out about winning the line of scrimmage, we’ll be fine.”

Williams happy In the off-season there were rumors sophomore tight end D. J. Williams wanted to follow Houston Nutt — Arkansas’ coach the previous 10 years — to Ole Miss. But Williams stayed at Arkansas and has been among the more impressive players in spring practice, catching several passes for long gains.

“I’m pretty happy,” Williams said. “It’s always tough adjusting, because you felt comfortable with one thing and something else comes in.

“ It just took time to get used to [the coaching change ], and now everything is feeling pretty good.”

Williams, who caught five passes for 94 yards last season, figures to put up bigger numbers with new Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino calling the plays.

“We all know we were a primary run team last year. They are trying to balance the thing,” Williams said. “I don’t think it’s going to be so much more pass than run, but it’s going to be balanced — run the ball to open up the passing game.”

Williams said he expects to run deep routes in the new offense.

“We are trying to spread the field out a bit more. We may run a deep route and then line up in the same formation and run,” Williams said. “Coach Petrino is a good coach and knows what he’s talking about, and so do all the assistant coaches. So I think it will be a pretty good year.” Crawford catching on

Arkansas’ receivers have gotten a lot of passes thrown their way the first three days of practice, and junior London Crawford has stood out, according to offensive coordinator Paul Petrino.

“London probably had the best first three days,” Petrino said. “He’s been catching the ball well and attacking.”

Petrino said Crawford and sophomore Marques Wade have been the top outside receivers in practice with sophomore Carlton Salters and junior Lucas Miller the top inside receivers. Installing playbook Offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said the coaches have put in “a little portion” of the playbook so far. “But it probably seems like a whole lot to [the players ] because it’s new,” Petrino said. “We kind of break it into probably eight sections and insert an eighth of each. “ Then after eight days we start back over.”

Oh, Willy Defensive coordinator Willy Robinson has clearly been in pain, but he continues to hop and hobble around the field, yelling out instructions, encouragement and criticism.

Robinson had surgery to repair a major injury around his left knee he suffered late last season while coaching with the St. Louis Rams.

“It hurts like a — are you taping this ? — it hurts really bad,” Robinson said. “I tore my quadriceps [muscle ] off the tendon, and tore the tendon off the bone. I cried like a little girl.”

Robinson suffered the injury while taking a misstep leaving the locker room after halftime of a game in December.

“So I had 120 stitches inside to reattach, and I believe 30 stitches to sew me back up,” Robinson said, showing the lengthy scar to a group of reporters. Practice highlights

The crowd gave a big round of applause on the first play of the first team period, as tailback Michael Smith took a pitch right, bolted through a big hole and ran deep into the secondary before being touched.

A short time later, quarterback Casey Dick ran a play-action and found frequent target D. J. Williams across the middle for a long gain before cornerback Isaac Madison closed in.

Ryan Mallett had two nifty play-action completions to Carlton Salters and Rod Coleman during the same period. Later, however, two Mallett passes in a row were tipped and intercepted, by Madison and Greg Gatson, respectively. The first was a receiver’s fault; the second came on an overthrown pass to tight end Andrew Davie. Cornerback Jamar Love continued to impress, with two pass deflections in a team period.

Injury report Tailback convert Chip Gregory got his cleat hung up on a lengthy run and twisted his left ankle early in the team period Saturday. Gregory walked slowly back to the offensive side, got the ankle wrapped and rejoined the work a short while later. Receiver London Crawford’s back tightened up late in practice while sprinting toward the end zone after grabbing a short sideline route. Cornerback Jerell Norton joined the group of nonparticipants as expected after suffering a hamstring injury Friday. The rest of that group: defensive tackles Ernest Mitchell and Marcus Shavers, linebacker Wendel Davis and safety Evan Bettis. Safety Walner Leandre continues to wear a yellow nocontact jersey and gets limited work in team periods.

Sunday practice Arkansas’ practice today will begin at 10: 30 a. m. and half of the time will be devoted to a scrimmage.